Hunting Culture: A Place for Every Pursuit

November 5, 2018

Your odds of winning the lottery, becoming famous, playing sports professionally or earning the title of President of the United States are all about the same – a big fat goose egg! It’s an exclusive club that actually achieves, or lucks into, any of the aforementioned situations. What isn’t exclusive though, something you can do with 100% odds, is becoming a hunter.

There is no major league draft, no America’s Best Hunting competition, no election – hunting is something that can be achieved with absolutely certainty and only requires your personal determination. Hunting is one of the most inclusive lifestyles in America. It isn’t reserved for a privileged class of folks. You don’t have to be rich or a rocket scientist, you don’t need an Olympic athlete’s physique or endurance, you don’t have to be the ultimate woodsman. All that is required is a desire to get outdoors, to try your best and to learn from those experiences.

Hunting itself is old school. I’m not talking Johnny Cash or even Abraham Lincoln old school, I’m talking 2-million years ago. It’s a lifestyle that dates back to Neanderthals where even in the absence of a sophisticated language they understood that hunting was necessary for survival. Now obviously, the way we hunt and the reasons we do so have changed. However, the basic principles remain the same – hunting provides subsistence and as time has marched on it also provides us with a conservation tool, a means to manage wildlife populations.

Today, we all hunt for different reasons, with different goals and with different expectations. Some hunters have access to fantastic properties that are well managed and teeming with wildlife. Others hunt highly pressured public lands where seeing any wildlife at all isn’t a guarantee, but it’s the opportunity that keeps them coming back. Some people target and hunt one specific animal only and hold out, even if that means ending the season empty handed. Some hunters are after a particular age or trophy score. Others hunt strictly for meat and are more interested in filling the freezer than inches and scores. Some folks are just doing their best to get outdoors at all – after putting in their 40+ hours at work and spending adequate time at home, their free time is limited to weekends or early mornings and late evenings, before and after work. The great thing about hunting is that there is room for all of these people, and their individual pursuits, under the same umbrella.

There are plenty of people out there that like to stoke the flames of divisiveness when it comes to hunting. Anti-hunters are notoriously brutal when attacking hunters online, all of their vitriol is based on a lifestyle they clearly don’t understand and quite frankly, one they aren’t willing to hear the advantages/benefits of. However, more troubling is the divide among we as hunters. The idea that you can’t or shouldn’t hunt unless you have the physical capacity to run a marathon is ridiculous. The idea that you are less of a hunter if you like rifle or black powder hunting for big game rather than bow hunting is ludicrous, as well. To berate or belittle a hunter that chooses to hunt with a crossbow, whether or not they have an age or physical limitation, is unfair and small minded. It’s also misguided to denounce those that are meat hunters, those that fill the freezer with a doe, cow, spike or anything else deemed less than “fully mature”. Furthermore, it is just as wrong to attack those who hold out and hunt for a trophy animal. Hunters should be supporting each other in their individual pursuits, not tearing each other down. Just because it may not be how you hunt, that doesn’t make it wrong or ridicule worthy.

Today, there are a 11.5 million hunters in the United States contributing a whopping $25.6 billion, a large percentage of which goes directly to conservation efforts. Outdoorsmen and women are the foundation of American conservation and you’ll be hard pressed to find anyone who does as much for wildlife as hunters and sportsmen do. This should be something that all hunters can take pride in, something that unites them – their passion for the outdoors, wildlife and conservation. With hunting participation numbers declining, now more than ever we should be supporting fellow hunters and encouraging new participants to get in the field.

Don’t set unrealistic standards, refrain from judgement and instead, lay out the welcome mat for new and seasoned hunters around you. Get outdoors, put on your camo, hunt, have fun and enjoy the hunting season, friends.

Travis Ferguson

Trav is a small town kid driven by hunting, fishing, rock/honky-tonk music, cold beer and his wife and kids. Being raised in a rural area surrounded by wildlife and lacking the luxurious amenities of big city life might be challenging to some; however, to Trav, it was an utter blessing. From his inception on, Trav has spent his life outdoors, he was taught at a very young age to hunt and fish and over the years these skills have molded him into a self-sufficient outdoorsman that strives to live a sustainable and God fearing lifestyle. When Trav isn’t behind the mic he’s either in the woods or on the water sharing his passion and love for the outdoors with his family and friends. So, don't bother searching for him online and you couldn’t pay him to own an iPhone, but let me reassure you of this: If there’s hunting and fishing, cold beer on tap and shaving isn’t required, he’s certainly not too far. What you see is what you get with Trav and to sum him up is simple, he doesn’t ask for a lot and he’ll never need much, a rifle, a bow, the love of his good looking wife and to be all that his children will ever need!

3 comments

I got my first buck with a crossbow last year and I was harped on by all of my friends that I did it with a crossbow. Didn't feel good and I couldn't understand why everyone gave me crap about it. Wasn't right.

I'm tired of seeing negativity by other hunters all because someone shot a deer with a crossbow or they killed a spike for meat or whatever it may be. Why can't we celebrate our hunts and unite as sportsmen? Beats the hell out of me.

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The Revolution with Jim & Trav is a voice for the outdoors on the airwaves. The Revolution with Jim & Trav dominates the outdoor radio segment as the fastest growing nationally syndicated radio show and podcast dedicated to outdoor enthusiasts. This weekly radio show and podcast aims to accomplish a simple goal: to promote the participation in and enjoyment of outdoor activities, especially hunting and fishing.